Marsworth Locks

A flat walk on a dull day…and yet, this walk was much more enjoyable than that. Another walk near Tring. That’s something like 8 walks around here in the last 10 months so you may get the feeling we like Tring! This time we missed out the Ashridge Estate, Wendover Woods and the Chiltern Hills and instead we chose to walk along the Grand Union Canal. I say we avoided the Chilterns and yet our walk starts at Bulbourne, near Tring Summit, the high point as the canal crosses the Chilterns. Here you can actually touch the history. The canal was cut through these hills at a time when New England and Virginia were still colonies. Occasionally you get the feeling a horse towing a coal barge might appear around the next corner.

We walk down Marsworth Locks as far as the swing bridge at Great Seabrook before taking a detour around Pistone, almost as far as Ivinghoe and loop back through Church End. We pass St Mary’s Church. If the canal evokes memories of a bygone age, the church goes back further. There’s been a church on this site since at least 1250 AD, although it’s no longer a place of worship. The building is now open as a visitor attraction on Sunday afternoons!

Every walk should have a windmill. It just makes things more interesting! As we trudge across the fields at Pitstone the windmill emerges from the mist but Ivinghoe Beacon remains a brooding shadow in the background.

We rejoin the canal at Marshcroft Lane and from here it’s a brisk walk back to the car park at the College Lake Wildlife Centre. As far as Sunday afternoon walks go this ain’t a bad 8 miler.